I got my result from the DAPLE exam and I am absolutely staggered to say I seem to have made like a houthi drone facility and got bommed.
I’m really nonplussed about this. When I did the DIPLE I absolutely smashed it and yet got a pitifully low mark, which is an injustice so great the tories have tried to blame it on Kier Starmer’s time as the Director of Public Prosecutions. This time, I made horrible errors on the dialogue, guessed a lot of my multi-choice answers and left the exam feeling pretty sure I’d actually failed and yet according to this I was above 70% across the board. Errrr… How?
Perdi dois dias por causa do novo emprego, mas preciso de montar o cavalo novamente*, portanto aqui vou eu com um pequeno texto antes de me deitar:
Acabamos de ver uma peça de teatro chamada “Ulster American” em Hammersmith, num sitio onde foram filmados os episódios do Dr Who nos anos 60 e 70. A peça é muito engraçada e satírica sobre as perspectivas dos americanos e ingleses sobre a Irlanda do Norte. Até a personagem anglo-irlandesa é antipática**!
Daqui a 8 dias, irei ver um comediante português, cujo nome é Luís Franco-Bastos e depois faltam 3 semanas para o concerto da Sara Correia. Que sorte de ter tantos divertimentos para me sustentar durante os meses mais escuros e deprimentes do ano!
And I really do need to get to bed so I’m not even doing the most basic checks on this. I hope it isn’t too rubbish.
*As far as I’m aware, “get back on the horse” is not a portuguese expression… By the way, “Remontar” sounds like it should mean remount but I don’t think it does. None of the definitions priberam give sound like that anyway. It has quite a few meanings having do with raising things or fixing things that have collapsed. One meaning is even “adornar as extremidades de” which is a beautifully specific definition. Anyway, I could be wrong, but I think you have to say it the long way, I’m afraid.
**I wrote “até (…) não é simpática” but the até and the não clash, apparently.
Another translation – this one from Amália. It’s not one of my favourites but I’ve always been intrigued by the title: Cheira a Lisboa: It smells like Lisbon. OK, well let’s see what that smells like then. Cigarettes and roasted chestnuts mostly, I think, well, OK, there are worse smells.
It’s probably worth remembering the differerence between “cheirar a” and “cheirar de” which is discussed in this blog post from a couple of years back. I’ll translate “cheirar a” as “smells like” not “smells of”. And “Cheira bem” I will translate as “smells good” but it would be more literal to say “it smells well” because bem is an adverb, but that would sound stupid in english.
Portuguese
English
Lisboa já tem Sol mas cheira a Lua Quando nasce a madrugada sorrateira E o primeiro elétrico da rua Faz coro com as chinelas da Ribeira
Lisbon has sun but smells like the moon When the surreptitious dawn breaks And the first tram in the street Makes a chorus with the slippers of Ribeira
Se chove cheira a terra prometida Procissões têm o cheiro a rosmaninho Nas tascas da viela mais escondidas Cheira a iscas com elas e a vinho
If it rains it smells like the promised land Processions have a smell like rosemary In the most hidden backstreet bars It smells of Iscas com Elas and of wine
Um cravo numa água furtada Cheira bem, cheira a Lisboa Uma rosa a florir na tapada Cheira bem, cheira a Lisboa
A carnation hidden in the window It smells good, it smells like Lisbon A rose flourishing in the park It smells good, it smells like Lisbon
A fragata que se ergue na proa A varina que teima em passar Cheiram bem porque são de Lisboa Lisboa tem cheiros de flores e de mar
The frigate that rises up on the prow The fish seller who insists on passing by They smell good because they are from Lisbon Lisbon smells like flowers and the sea
Lisboa cheira aos cafés do Rossio E o fado cheira sempre a solidão Cheira a castanha assada se está frio Cheira a fruta madura quando é verão
Lisboa smells like Rossio cafés And fado always smells like solitude It smells like roasted chestnuts* when it’s cold It smells of ripe fruit when it’s summer
Nos lábios tem um cheiro de um sorriso Manjerico tem cheiro de cantigas E os rapazes perdem o juízo Quando lhes dá o cheiro a raparigas
On its lips it has the hint** of a smile Basil smells like songs And the boys lose their judgement When the smell of girls reaches*** them
Um cravo numa água furtada Cheira bem, cheira a Lisboa Uma rosa a florir na tapada Cheira bem, cheira a Lisboa
A carnation hidden in the window It smells good, it smells like Lisbon A rose flourishing in the park It smells good, it smells like Lisbon
A fragata que se ergue na proa A varina que teima em passar Cheiram bem porque são de Lisboa Lisboa tem cheiros de flores e de mar
The frigate that rises up on the prow The fish seller who insists on passing by They smell good because they are from Lisbon Lisbon smells like flowers and the sea
Cheira bem, cheira a Lisboa Cheira bem, cheira a Lisboa
It smells good, it smells like Lisbon It smells good, it smells like Lisbon
A fragata que se ergue na proa A varina que teima em passar Cheiram bem porque são de Lisboa Lisboa tem cheiros de flores e de mar
The frigate that rises up on the prow The fish seller who insists on passing by They smell good because they are from Lisbon Lisbon smells like flowers and the sea
*Ha! I told you so! She’s got half of it, anyway! The best half!
** I assume “um cheiro” can be “a hint” in this sense.
***I think “lhes dar” is equivalent to “dar a” (eles) which can have the sense of reaching or arriving at something
Just a pause to thank everyone who has sent me money through the “Buy Me a Coffee” link on the right. I just had a really nice message from someone who was enjoying an audiobook of “O Livro do Desassossego” from Wook after I mentioned it in a post on New Year’s Eve. It’s always really nice to know that someone is reading these little brainfarts of mine and recently I seem to find there are more and more people saying hello to me. I’m not sure what that means. Is European Portuguese becoming a more popular language these days? Excellent!
I tried to set it up so I had enough money trickling in that I could run the site ad-free without it costing me money because the ads that used to appear in the first 3 or 4 years were so annoying. As it turns out, when I tally up contributions minus WordPress’s hosting fees I am actually earning about 4 pence per blog post! Amazing! I am now going to tell everyone I know that I am a professional bogger since for the last two months it has been my only income stream! (Don’t worry though, I’m starting a new job tomorrow so I won’t starve!)
Ovibeja é um festival que comemora os seus 40 anos em Maio de 2024, tendo estreado em 1984. Naquela altura, era simplesmente uma feira agrícola. Já passei umas horas numa feira semelhante perto de Coimbra quando eu e a macaquinha fomos lá de férias em 2022 mas ao que parece, este é o avó* das feiras todas. Ovibeja, como marca, evoluiu ao longo dos anos, sob a influência da sua comunidade e hoje em dia o leque de atracões abrange concertos das estrelas da música portuguesa, espetáculos de hipismo, e discursos sobre temas ambientais entre muitas outras coisas. O presidente da república apareceu lá no ano passado e duvido que fosse a sua primeira visita! Segundo o vídeo no seu Instagram, tem ar de ser o Glastonbury de agricultura combinado com o Davos também! Não acreditas? Vê o vídeo!
E como é que eu, que não vivo em Beja nem trabalho no setor, conheço o nome desta feira? Por pura coincidência. Há quase 2 anos escrevi um blogue intitulado “Oliver Beiji” Naquela altura todos as publicações apareciam no Tuíter automaticamente e alguém me respondeu: “At first glance, thought you wrote #OviBeja!” Durante todo este tempo, o blogue esteve em em gestação. Valeu a pena?
Oof – WordPress has a new feature where it writes the blog for you using AI. FFS! What even is the point of humans now. Here is what it came up with in response to my prompt
Dá-me um paragrafo que resume a feira Ovibeja
Este evento teve sua estreia em 1984 e tem sido um marco importante no setor agrícola desde então. Oferecendo uma ampla gama de exposições e atividades, a Ovibeja atrai participantes e visitantes de todo o país e além-fronteiras, consolidando-se como um ponto de encontro indispensável para profissionais e entusiastas do setor.
At the time, I’d only written one sentence and it seemed like it was paraphrasing that but it is obviously using text gleaned from the wider internet. If only the CAPLE exam had this feature enabled on all its pencils I might have had better marks but I don’t think I’d feel good about the certificate…
*O originally wrote avô, and there’s no reason it can’t be the grandaddy, but since feira is feminine, it was painted out, why can’t it be the grandmother?
This was originally published in uncorrected form but thanks to Cristina for sorting it out!
I always like to mention new online ventures related to Portugal and portuguese, so allow me to point you to this newish newsletter explaining the latest current events in Portugal. It’s called Portugal Decoded and as you can guess from the name, it’s in english, not portuguese, but that’s OK, I’ve subscribed on the idea that if I read the news in english then when I listen to the news podcast I will know what to listen out for and that’ll make it easier. Anyway, if thats sounds like something you’d be interested in, try it – as Yo Gabba Gabba used to say* – you might like it.
Incidentally, while trying to find it, I came across this reaction to a video called “Portugal Explained”. I’ve seen the original before and might even have mentioned it here, but for a second time I was super-impressed at how many in-jokes the non-portuguese-speaking creator of the original video was able to squeeze in. He clearly did his homework! I’ve definitely mentioned Wuant (the guy reacting) before. He’s a silly man, but that’s influencers for you innit!
* In case you’re too young or old to have suffered through this with your kids… here
This post is about unpacking an interesting short video from Portuguese Dips a couple of years ago in November 2021. It’s part of a series about Portuguese idioms. On day 4 he talks about “Fazer Trinta Por Uma Linha“. He’s very good at these capsule summaries, and he definitely gives you all you need to start using it; basically it means they’re a handful.
But I was curious about the origin of the expression as well as how to use it. Well, as Westley says in The Princess Bride, “Get used to disappointment” because nobody seems to know. Andreia Vale, in “Puxar a Brasa à Nossa Sardinha” says there’s no origin known but tries to infer it. She points to thirty being number commonly used to denote human accomplishments, but the only examples she gives are “estar com 30 sentidos” which, ok, is fairly relevant, and the thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas… which I would say is not a good example of human accomplishment, on the whole. “Por uma linha” is like “a fio” or “a eito” (which came up in yesterday’s lyrics), being like “on the trot” or “in a row”. So they’re doing thirty things, one after another, resulting in total confusion.
In the same video he refers to “a canalha” which can either mean a gang of villains or a group of children. Hmmmm… Then there are words for naughtiness and general mischeif: irrequieto, traquino and asneira and finally he uses another expression “Têm de ter um olho nelas” which is obviously like the english expression: they have to keep an eye on them.
Luso 